By John Richardson THE TECHNICAL people, those with PHDs in polymer science who have also spent years in application development work, will tell you it is simply impossible to find other materials that perform as well as LLDPE. Multi-layer LLDPE films are vital in applications such as wrapping food, they argue, thanks to excellent barrier properties. […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China polymer growth at risk of 8.6m tonne decline on trade war
By John Richardson THERE is no other country or even region in the world that comes anywhere close to being as important to the global polymers industry as China, as the above chart reminds us. From end-2017 until the end of 2021 in seven of the major synthetic resins – PE, PP, PS, EPS, ABS, […]
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene trade war disruptions
By John Richardson BECAUSE CHINA is such a dominant player in finished goods manufacturing, US tariffs on Chinese imports as part of the trade war will have major negative effects upstream across a wide range of petrochemicals and polymers and across a wide range of countries. The reason is of course that petrochemicals are needed […]
US styrene another petchems sector at risk from trade war
By John Richardson THE US decision to pick a fight with China over trade and geopolitical influence could backfire very badly from the perspective of new US investments in petrochemicals capacity – most notably polyethylene (PE) and ethylene glycols (EG). The data tell is that many billions of dollars of investments in new plants will […]
China, China And China: The Three Drivers Of Global Styrene
By John Richardson THE DATA on global polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) undermine the notion of booming emerging markets demand. In reality, it is only Chinese demand that has boomed and not the emerging markets as a whole. And when you look at all the commodity chemicals and polymers value chains, the headline data tells you […]
Global Polymers Demand Up 4.5% In 2011
By Malini Hariharan Despite challenging market conditions in 2011, the global polymers industry managed to post demand growth of 4.5%, with the largest increase recorded by polyvinyl chloride (PVC) at 6.2% and linear-low density polyethylene (LLDPE) at 5.8%, estimates Fabrizio Galie of the ICIS consulting team. Global demand for commodity polymers, including PE, polypropylene (PP), […]
The Benzene Versus Propylene Debate
By John Richardson SHELL Chemicals put an argument forward last week that polystyrene (PS) had regained ground from polypropylene (PP) as a result of expensive propylene. And the petrochemicals major forecast a bright future for both PS and expandable polystyrene (EPS). The blog pretty much always enjoys playing the devil’s advocate and so later on […]
China And The Cold Weather: Heating The Great Outdoors
Stop complaining – it’s actually colder inside! Source of picture: www.gulfnews.com By John Richardson As northern China shivers from the coldest temperatures in decades, one Western ex-pat based in the country vented his spleen on cultural impediments which cause huge energy wastage – and prevent everyone from keeping a little bit warmer. “My colleagues […]
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